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"ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜰ ᴡᴇ ʀᴇᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ?
ꜱᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴍɪɴᴇ."
ᴢᴇɴᴅᴀʏᴀ & ᴢᴀᴄ ᴇꜰʀᴏɴ
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"It's done, Princess (Y/n)," the Commandment of Selflessness informs me as I silently stare out at the beautiful landscape in front of me.
"Good," I hum, crossing my legs. "Another thing I want you guys to do while we're here in this realm is to drop the damn Royal titles."
"As you wish," Fraudrin murmurs.
"I'm the leader of the Ten Commandments and the Commandment of Piety, nothing more," I say and slowly interlace my fingers. "There's no need for everyone in this realm to know that I'm one of the daughters of the Demon Queen."
"Why? Do you think they would be more afraid of you?" the Commandment of Faith asks with a tiny giggle.
"It would create unnecessary drama," I answer with a small sigh. "And I would like to avoid such nonsense."
"You can be so strange sometimes, (Y/n)," the Commandment of Repose notes thoughtfully but I can tell he's mocking me right now.
"Watch it," I snarl at him, not turning around to face him.
"It appears that an Albion has been destroyed," Fraudrin suddenly says as he slowly walks over and stands next to me. "Two of them actually in separate locations."
"Is that so?" I murmur as I look over at him curiously.
"Who cares about them anyway?" Melascula drawls with a bored tone. "Because to me, they're nothing but ancient toys."
Of course they are. Trust Melascula to say something as heartless as that.
Laughing, the Commandment of Truth says, "How amusing."
"What is it you find so funny?" Melascula questions our comrade.
"Who would have ever imagined that even now there'd still be people daring to stand against the Demon race," Galand comments as he stands up. "Right, let's go."
"You're not considering heading out there with your powers still depleted, are you?" Melascula asks with disapproval.
"Why not?" he says, unfazed. "It'd be a perfect warm-up exercise. Or do you actually think they'll defeat me?"
Damn idiot. What the hell does he think he's doing?
Darting over to him, I firmly stand in front of him, asking, "Have you forgotten that it was this kind of arrogance that led to our being sealed up in the first place?"
"Well, memory loss in an old man can be rather severe," Galand teases causing me to grit my teeth in frustration.
The two of us turn our attention to Gloxinia who uses one of his green vines to poke Galand, saying, "So, what direction are you gonna take?"
"Hmm, let me see," Galand says to himself.
"You shouldn't be encouraging this, Gloxinia," I tell him with a dark frown.
"I noticed something North-West of here," he goes on as if I hadn't spoken. "For a minute, there were power levels that were doubling the Albion's. The one South of us was strange because that Albion seemed to self-destruct as if somehow its own power slammed right back into itself."
Slammed right back into itself? Sounds an awful lot like Full Counter.
"Hey, thanks a lot," Galand says cheerfully as he pats Gloxinia's tiny head. "I'm ready."
Crossing my arms in front of my face, I block the mass amount of dust that blasts towards all of us the second Galand leaps towards the blue skies above us.
"Ever since we were released from the seal, it feels like things aren't the same, right?" Melascula remarks. "Something's off."
"Yeah, I can sense it too," I agree with her as I raise a hand and then flex my fingers. "The magic power that was so plentiful in Britannia 3,000 years ago is dried up. Which probably explains why it's taking so much time for us to regain ours."
"Odd, considering that power started the war between the five races in the first place," the Commandment of Reticence states.
"It's fine," Fraudrin reassures us. "Things aren't quite so dire."
"Hey, you there!" we hear a new voice call out from down below. "Where did you people come from? This is our turf, understand?"
"Humans?" Melascula asks as all of us look down to see two male Humans who have some sort of building equipment with them.
"I know why you're here!" one of the Humans shouts at us. "You want the glass-making stones of Edinburgh!"
"If any of you miners find any of them and dig them up, we except the cut," the other Human says.
"They really think we're miners?" I say with one of my eyebrows twitching in annoyance. "How disgusting."
"Magical power once flowed from the earth but now it's spilled over onto the wildlife and plants," Fraudrin explains to us. "Over the past 3,000 years, the beings that run rampant in this land have each been absorbing it."
"Hey, listen up!" the same Human from before yells at us. "You understand what we're saying to you? Or—"
I blink when I realise that the Commandment of Purity has suddenly appeared right in front of that male Human, her face blank.
"Well, hello there, sweetheart," the Human tries to say with a charming voice.
Silently, Derieri places the tip of her index finger at the centre of his chest and the Human's eyes immediately turn white and his soul escapes through his mouth. Derieri easily grabs the soul and then eats it.
"What d'you do?" the other Human exclaims. "Hey, snap out of it!"
"Tell me, how does it taste?" Melascula asks our comrade.
Swallowing down the soul, Derieri smiles and gives us the thumbs up, replying, "Bottom line is it's two birds with one stone."
Bile quickly builds up in my throat when I see this but I forcefully push away the urge to puke and bite hard on my lip.
"Are you that hungry, (Y/n)?" Gloxinia asks me.
"Yeah," I lie as my stomach swirls uncomfortably. "Yeah, I am."
Monspeet swiftly makes his way down as well and then takes the soul of the other Human before saying, "While I'm sure the flavour's off, these souls containing a sprinkling of magical power must be at least somewhat appetising. With their nourishment, we'll gain power and be able to wipe out swarms of Humans. Two birds indeed."
As Monspeet eats the other soul, Melascula says, "Alright then, perhaps it's time for me to send the bees out so that they can all gather up a little honey. Summon Ring! Fraudrin, is there a village of Humans living nearby? Find one, make sure it's nice and big, OK?"
I repress a shiver as Melascula's dark magic forms a massive ring above our heads and darkness begins to swirl in the centre of it, crimson red eyes gleaming from within.
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"What a load of crap," I drawl as I cross my arms over my chest and everyone jolts at my harsh tone. "Do you really think that Elizabeth, one of the strongest Demons in the Holy War, would be brought down that easily?"
"I killed her myself," Galand insists, lying on his back comfortably.
"Then you're a bigger of a fool than I thought," I say in a low voice. "Our own Queen feared her and the power that was brewing from within her so if you're really telling me that you killed that traitor, you're declaring that the Demon Queen's power is equal to an insect."
"How dare you!" Galand roars as he quickly sits up straight. "I am Galand of Truth who can never utter any lie so are you doubting me?"
This is true; as the Commandment of Truth, Galand can never lie or go back on an oath. So how the hell did he kill Elizabeth?
"Are you going somewhere again?" the first Fairy King asks him as he stands on his feet with his weapon.
"Just a little walk," Galand says stiffly. "It's not in me to sit still like the rest of you."
Fingernails digging into my arms, I scowl as the Commandment of Truth disappears once again.
"Could I accompany him, (Y/n)?" I hear Monspeet ask me.
"Why not," I say, sighing heavily. "Keep an eye on him, will you?"
"Of course," Monspeet says in understanding and then rushes off after the other Demon warrior.
"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" the Commandment of Pacifism asks me and because of the gentleness in her voice, I decide not to correct her.
"That idiot never listens to me," I answer her and then click my tongue in disapproval. "He'll get himself killed before I can even give him an order."
"Galand never listens to anyone," Grayroad points out. "So do not worry if you feel like it has something to do with your leadership skills."
"I suppose," I say and then notice a sudden ruckus up ahead. "What the hell is going on?"
"It appears Galand and Monspeet have bumped into someone," Gloxinia notes with interest. "But this fight's lasted longer than a couple of seconds which means this certain someone is able to fight back."
In the next second, Monspeet sends out a Hellfire Bird and I narrow my eyebrows at this, saying, "What the hell is he doing?"
"We'll just have to ask him when he gets back," Fraudrin says.
When the two Commandments finally return to the rest of us, they hesitantly turn their wary gazes to me to see my reaction.
"Who were you fighting?" I question firmly.
"A young Giant but she ended up getting away with someone else," Monspeet answers.
"A Giant you say?" I say through gritted teeth, turning my steely gaze to the Commandment of Truth. "If you couldn't even beat a Giant, what the hell makes you think that I'll believe you when you say you killed the eldest daughter of the Demon Queen?"
Gloved hands clenching onto his weapon, Galand replies, "We were only messing around with that silly Giant."
"Giant or not, you still have the bad habit of underestimating our enemies," I snarl at him. "That kind of attitude is going to backfire on us one day."
Shooting Galand one last dirty look, I gracefully spin around and head over to sit beside the Commandment of Repose with my elbows on my knees.
"My, you can barely control your temper today," Melascula comments with an amused tone. "You're starting to become more and more like your older sister."
"Say something like that one more time," I say slowly as I turn my raging eyes to her, "and I'll rip out all seven of your hearts."
The moment I say this, silence falls upon the entire group so I simply close my eyes, exhaling softly as I lean back and listen to the gentle breeze and the other sounds of nature I haven't heard for a very long time.
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"(Y/n), time to wake up," a voice brings me out of my slumber. "Something's happening."
As I open my eyes, the Ten Commandments and I flinch when we feel a sinister power lingering in the air, growing stronger by the second.
"No doubt about it," I whisper as I stare up at the black skies. "It's her."
"So she has finally decided to reveal herself," Grayroad says while we all get to our feet.
"So it seems," I murmur as I take a couple of steps forward.
My seven hearts start to race when a familiar figure suddenly appears up ahead, hands placed on hips.
"Heyo!" the eldest daughter of the Demon Queen, the traitor to our race, calls out with a smile and a wave.
"Elizabeth," I breathe her name.
Light blue eyes shine with excitement when they land on me and I can't help but realise that my older sister still looks as beautiful as always.
"Wait," Galand roars as he lands right in front of my sister. "Nobody here lifts a finger. That's the prey I failed to kill. I'll make sure she dies this time."
Unable to hold it in, I let out a quiet snigger when Elizabeth throws a brutal punch right at the Commandment's armoured face and then slams his head to the hard ground, creating a large crater in the process.
"Seems you're a little different from our last fight," Galand says and then strikes with his spear. "Chaotic Judgement!"
"Just got a little more power, that's all," Elizabeth says with glee as she balances herself on the tip of the spear once Galand has carried out his attack.
Kneeing him in the face, Galand falls backwards but my sister doesn't stop there and punches him once again, causing him to go flying several feet away.
"You seem more composed," I mutter. "Have these 3,000 years really changed you, Elizabeth?"
"Now that's more like it," Galand says but I can tell that Elizabeth's strength has caught him off guard. "This is how it should be or things will get dull!"
Elizabeth pulls her sword out of the sheath on her back a slight bit and then puts it back in which instantly cuts through Galand's armour in certain places and he cries out in pain and shock.
Both of my eyebrows rise as Gloxinia asks, "Did you just see that?"
"She's a handful," Melascula says in response.
"What's with the angry looks?" my older sister questions as she walks closer to us. "I just wanted to say hi and talk a little. It's been too long!"
"There's nothing to talk about," I immediately snap and raise my chin a little. "Just know that you're hated. We will take vengeance on you and the four races who wronged us."
"What a cold thing to say, (Y/n)," Elizabeth says with that stupid smile of hers. "We are sisters, right? If you guys plan on picking up where we left off 3,000 years ago, the Seven Deadly Sins are gonna do whatever it takes to stop you."
"I told you, there's nothing to talk about," I growl as I place my hand on my sword.
"Oh, this isn't talk," Elizabeth states. "It's a warning."
Before I can stop myself, I launch myself towards her and from the corner of my eye, I see the Commandment of Selflessness do the same. By the time we reach my sister with our swords drawn out, she disappears.
"Damn it," I hiss and then turn around when I hear something heavy fall over.
"So, that's the power of the accursed Demon," Galand says weakly and then chuckles. "Oh, it's so very delightful. Ah, the hell it is!"
Roaring out his anger to the empty space around us, I roll my eyes and say to Fraudrin, "At this rate, I may kill him before the Seven Deadly Sins do."
"Easy now, (Y/n)," he says gently.
"Curse you. Curse you, Elizabeth!" Galand yells as he slowly sits up. "How dare you come here and humiliate me like that! I want you to find her, Melascula. If we don't stop her immediately she'll become a threat to us all once more."
"You ready to lose a second time?" Melascula asks as she places a hand on her cheek to which I approvingly grin.
"What did you say?" Galand snaps, finally getting on his feet.
"She's right about this," I cut in and tilt my head to the side. "You're no match for her now. So just try to calm down, you idiot. Our main goal is to conquer Britannia. From this point on, we need to split up into teams of two or more. Go and restore your power. Get it done quickly. Use any method to eradicate the other races. I don't care how you do it."
"(Y/n)?" Fraudrin quietly calls out to me. "Are you declaring war against Elizabeth?"
"Not war," I say with a nasty smile as I turn around to face the others. "She only deserves one thing; annihilation."
"But we can never let our guard down," Fraudrin notes, looking down at me. "Elizabeth may be the obvious reason but the Seven Deadly Sins are on her side as well."
"You've mentioned them once before," Monspeet points out. "Tell me, who are they anyway?"
"I don't give a damn about any of that!" Galand interrupts with blood dripping from his armour. "You really believe I'm no match for her? In that last battle, if I wanted to, that little bastard—"
"Galand," a voice that's been silent this entire time speaks up. "It isn't wise to lie. Even we aren't immune to being cursed if our own Commandments are broken. Or have you already forgotten?"
I shoot the Commandment of Patience a thankful look as Galand sighs in defeat and his entire body slouches forward.
"As of this moment, in the name of the Demon Queen herself, our domination of Britannia begins!" I announce loudly to all of the Commandments.
As I watch all of my comrades head in different directions, I hear the Commandment of Selflessness ask me, "Will you be alright on your own for now, (Y/n)?"
"You do know who you're talking to, right?" I say with a teasing smirk as I turn to him.
Chuckling, Fraudrin says, "Apologies for constantly checking up on you. I'll be on my way now but we'll see each other soon."
"We will," I promise and he then makes his way towards the night skies before disappearing out of my sight.
And now, before I head over to one of the Human Kingdoms, I plan to track down my older sister in order to find my best friend. Because Elizabeth openly revealed her true powers, it will be much easier to find her now.
"But I won't make the same mistake you did," I say as I carefully conceal all of my magic and spread my wings on my back.
Squatting down, I then leap off the ground and my dark wings carry me to the skies, taking me above the white clouds. Letting my fingertips touch the surface of the clouds, I hum softly to myself as I continue to follow the trail of my older sister's powers.
The released Albion most definitely caught that traitor's attention so that must've been the reason why she suddenly revealed her true powers just hours later. And now we know that we still need to be careful and wary of her.
After flying silently for an hour, I spot a large green pig carrying a sort of Human-sized tavern on top of it and my jaw drops when I see this shocking sight.
"Trust Elizabeth to travel in something like this," I mutter to myself as I quietly land on the highest balcony of the tavern.
Placing my hand on the handle of the wooden door, I then pull away, slowly backing away towards the steel railings of the tiny balcony. Once my back gently hits it, I turn around and place both of my hands on the cool railings, breathing deeply.
What the hell am I doing here? If my older sister really is here in this strange tavern, that means the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins are as well. And the moment any of them see me, I'll be killed on the spot.
"Oh, hello!" a warm voice speaks, one that sets my hearts on fire. "Are you lost?"
Hands shaking terribly, mind spinning, I slowly turn around and breathe, "Zeldris."
"Do I know you?" my best friend whom I have not seen for a very long time questions, dipping his head slightly.
Shaking my head quickly, I say quietly, "No, you don't."
"Are you from the Kingdom of Liones, my lady?" he asks me politely with a wonderful smile on his pale face.
Lips quivering, I answer softly, "No. I come from the Kingdom of Camelot."
"Oh, I see!" the youngest son of the Supreme Deity says cheerily and then places the palms of his hands together. "Actually, how did you even get up here?"
As he looks down from the steel railings, I quickly lie, "I'm really sorry, but I'm a huge fan of the Seven Deadly Sins so I just...snuck in."
"Would you like to meet them?" Zeldris asks, his jade green eyes sparkling with innocence as they turn back to me.
"No!" I blurt out and he blinks in confusion at this response. "I mean, I'm still training right now to become...a great soldier! So I want to become the best one there is before I meet the Seven Deadly Sins! Actually, could you do me a favour? Could you never mention my being here? I don't really want to get in trouble before meeting them."
"Are you really sure you don't want to meet them?" Zeldris asks with the most adorable pout.
"Yes, I'm sure," I say quietly as my trembling hand lands on my sword. "Thank you."
"So what might your name be?" my best friend asks me as he gracefully skips towards me and leans in close to my face. "Sorry, I didn't get to ask you earlier."
"My—My name?" I stutter, unable to move away. "My name is (Y/n)."
I mentally slap myself. Damn it, why the hell did I give my real name?
"That's such a pretty name!" Zeldris exclaims, smile only growing bigger. "I really like it!"
"Thank you," I say, not knowing what else to say.
I blink when he suddenly gracefully bows in front of me and says, "It's a pleasure to meet you, (Y/n). My name is Prince Zeldris of Liones."
Prince Zeldris of Liones? You've got to be kidding me.
"You're the Prince of Liones?" I squeak in shock.
"Oh, I thought you already knew that," he says as he straightens his back. "Well, I'm one of the royal children of Liones Kingdom. I'm the youngest one actually."
"I see. Honestly, I heard someone call you by your first name so I didn't actually know who you were," I lie as I rub the back of my head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Prince Zeldris."
"No need to apologise. Now you know," the reincarnated Goddess says and then giggles softly. "And you don't have to call me Prince or Your Majesty or any of that nonsense. You can just call me Zeldris."
"I should get going," I say out of the blue and then shift my nervous eyes elsewhere. "I need to head back. I stayed longer than I intended."
"Promise me that we'll meet again, (Y/n)?" my best friend requests as he abruptly brings out a hand between us.
Staring at his tiny pinky finger with bewilderment, I stutter, "Wh—What are you doing?"
"Pinky promise," Zeldris explains with his leaf green eyes flickering in delight. "Pinky promise that we'll meet again, great soldier (Y/n)."
Does he remember? There's no way he does. But then why the hell is he doing something he used to do with Gelda and I more than 3,000 years ago?
His childish side always came out with such odd habits and the one habit that he could never seem to let go of was asking everyone for pinky promises, especially from Gelda and I. But Gelda and I would never turn away from this, and even now I can't seem to say no to him.
Hesitantly, my pinky finger twirls around his and I whisper my response, "I pinky promise I'll come back to you, Prince Zeldris of Liones."
As he slowly pulls away, Zeldris cheerfully says to me, "Your secret's safe with me, don't worry. Until we meet again, (Y/n)!"
Staring at the youngest son of the Supreme Deity in front of me, my hearts painfully screaming out to him to remember me, to see who I truly am, I say to him, "Until we meet again, sweet angel."
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